CHAPTER XXXI 
THE CHILDREN 
THE house did not progress as fast as Nelson 
had promised, and it was likely to be well 
toward Christmas before we could occupy it. 
As the days shortened, Polly and I found them 
crowded with interests. Life at Four Oaks was 
to mean such a radical change that we could not 
help speculating about its influence upon us and 
upon the children. Would it be satisfactory to 
us and to them? Or should we find after a year 
or two of experiment that we had been mistaken 
in believing that we could live happier lives in 
the country than in town? A year and a half 
of outdoor life and freedom from professional 
responsibilities had wrought a great change in 
me. I could now eat and sleep like a hired man, 
and it seemed preposterous to claim that I was 
going to the country for my health. My medical 
adviser, however, insisted that I had not gotten 
far enough away from the cause of my break- 
down, and that it would be unwise for me to 
take up work again for at least another year. 
In my own mind there was a fixed opinion that 
I should never take it up again. I loved it 
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